Christian Values

It’s very, very easy to be cynical about anyone calling themselves Christian in the United States in 2026. After all, Christians are Trump’s biggest supporters and so, so many are all-in on a revanchist fascism that has no connection with any teachings in the Bible. But then when did Christians pay attention to the Bible anyway? Pretty much never and thats not just contemporary evangelicals. I don’t exactly see a lot in the Bible to create a basis for Catholics’ Cult of Mary, for example. But the real problem today is the decline of liberal Christianity, as the mainstream Protestant denominations are in an extinction event, or something close to it. How many active Lutherans are there going to be in this nation in 25 years anyway? People have either just turned to secularism like they have in Sweden or they’ve found the kind of hate they really want and the community event/business connections they’ve always sought in religious services in the evangelical communities.

But it’s also worth noting that there are lots of Christians out there with real moral centers who are horrified by what is happening. A lot of them write for Christianity Today, which is usually worth a read. Russell Moore expresses his outrage over so-called Christians quite literally laughing at what is happening to immigrants:

Did you hear the one about the Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs? Wasn’t it hilarious? Here’s the setup: A community of vulnerable people, escaping danger to their lives in their home country, are quietly minding their business in a community, working long hours at hard jobs. Lots of them are Christians worshiping Jesus in churches on Sunday. The punch line is that these people are stealing their neighbors’ pets for dinner. It wasn’t true, of course. It never happened. We all know that now; we all knew that then. But why take everything so seriously?

A joke is a joke, right?

But wait, it gets better. Here comes another laugh line. Roughly 350,000 Haitians sojourning among us—immigrants legally here—have had their Temporary Protected Status removed, and people are having fun with memes. These memes aren’t from cranks on the internet but from the official accounts of the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.

The government posted a video of shackled Haitian men being loaded onto planes to upbeat music and the taunting message “Temporary Meant Temporary. Leave Now.” The official White House site created a 1980s-style arcade video game in which players can chase, capture, and deport immigrants.

Those who run focus groups to discern the opinions of American citizens find some people who are overtly hostile to immigrants—and say so. But most people, when trying to justify support for immigration raids and mass deportation, soften their language. They are not against immigrants, they say. They just want people to “do it the right way,” not to “skip to the front of the line,” and so on. When these participants are told, for example, that our Haitian neighbors did in fact apply and were here legally, that the government is specifically acting to make them illegal, many just don’t want to think about that at all.

..

Just for a moment, let’s forget the policy disputes—how many people should be allowed in and how. Suppose you want zero immigration to the United States or wherever you live. Suppose you can make the case that the Bible’s command to care for the sojourner doesn’t apply. Suppose, even, that you set aside what happens to these vulnerable people—some of whom, in the case of the Haitians and others, have every reason to believe gang violence will now kill them. Even if you are okay with all that, why would you ever find it entertaining?

A social media meme is meant to be shared—sent to someone else with the implicit assumption This is the kind of thing that people like you and me find funny. We’re in on the joke.

Fundamentally, the joke being anyone who gets hurt who might now want a white nationalist Christian fascist fantasy.

The post Christian Values appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.